Page 96 of The Heart of Winter

"Please save my child."

"Please save my child."

"Please save my child."

Tears streamed down my face as I begged—pleaded—demanded, knowing the chance was so small. But it was the only chance I had.

I could see Snow’s tense face, his eyelids clenched tightly shut, an enormous effort visible in his whole body.

And then, Summer’s body ignited with an intense platinum glow!

I’d never seen anything like this. But that wasn’t the end… a wave of silver-gold energy surged from me, from Aiden, from Snow, flowing into Summer, feeding him, pouring into him like we were fueling an enormous power coil.

I gave him everything. All of it.

And I knew: Aiden and Snow were doing the same.

We sent Summer every ounce of strength we had—

And then—

I lost consciousness.

WINTER

The first thing I felt was the cold. A biting, relentless cold that lashed at my skin like a whip. The wind stung my face. My head hung forward against my chest, my neck aching, stiffening. With immense effort, I tried to lift my hand to touch it, but my fingers felt numb and unresponsive.

I blinked, struggling to bring the world into focus.

Then I realized I was still in my seat. But the seat… it wasn’t on the plane anymore.

It was on the ground.

The reddish-brown field beneath me was dusted with snow, and thick fog curled through the air, obscuring the horizon. A pale, gray dawn stretched above me.

My hand felt frozen, barely able to move. With great difficulty, I turned my head to the right, pain stabbing through my neck with the motion.

Everything felt… surreal. I had no idea where I was. No idea what had happened. No idea how I’d ended up here.

My mind was eerily blank.

The row of seats was still intact, but barely. It looked like it had been ripped straight from the plane’s floor. Three seats had remained together.

And only one, besides mine, was occupied. I blinked.

Mint-green hair moved in the wind.

For several seconds, I simply stared at the figure beside me, my thoughts sluggish and disjointed, until, finally, realization sank in.

Sariel. My employee.

And… my boyfriend-in-the-process-of-becoming-my-boyfriend? Probably. I wasn’t sure.

"Sariel?" I rasped.

My voice sounded hoarse, foreign. I swallowed, and tried again.

"Sariel?"

---